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dark
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Xenophobia, Toxic friendship, Colonisation
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Hate crime, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Violence, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Islamophobia, Grief, Murder, Colonisation, Classism
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A love letter to all who suffered and continue to suffer. A modern classic, heartbreaking and perfect. I cried in the night, staying up late to finish this behemoth of a book. My new favourite of all time.. Bless Kuang and her brilliant mind.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Addiction, Drug abuse, Islamophobia, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, Deportation
adventurous
challenging
dark
inspiring
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
One of the best books I've ever read
I wish I could collate all my favourite quotes together but there'd be too many! What a fantastic book - I especially loved the chapters where Kuang goes deep into the etymology side of things. It's definitely a read for anyone who's a bit nerdy about languages and etymology but it's fun amentally a powerful political book.
The only criticism is that it takes so long for the characters of Letty, Victoire and Ramy to be built up, we only really get that satisfaction towards the second half of the book. But I'm sure that's done intentionally.
I wish I could collate all my favourite quotes together but there'd be too many! What a fantastic book - I especially loved the chapters where Kuang goes deep into the etymology side of things. It's definitely a read for anyone who's a bit nerdy about languages and etymology but it's fun amentally a powerful political book.
The only criticism is that it takes so long for the characters of Letty, Victoire and Ramy to be built up, we only really get that satisfaction towards the second half of the book. But I'm sure that's done intentionally.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Suicide
Moderate: Drug use, Gun violence, Misogyny, Torture, Violence, Police brutality, Murder, Colonisation, War, Classism
Minor: Alcoholism
dark
emotional
informative
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Xenophobia
Moderate: Blood
dark
emotional
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I have been putting off writing this review for some time because I am genuinely unsure how to write my feelings about it into words, or what coherent thoughts I have about this book are at this point.
This book is an absolute marvel. It is completely astonishing. The characters are so human, fully dimensional and uniquely complex. The story: devastating. But, anything that is about empire and colonialism is. Kuang has such incredible skill at interweaving themes of empire, colonialism, racism, religion, gender and so many more themes. Sometimes, I came across sentences that put the themes and topics so well that I physically could not think of a way to rephrase things. Her style is just so clever and intricate and nuanced. Simply brilliant.
This book is also incredibly emotional. There are characters in this book that felt like friends of mine and I haven't felt this close to characters in a book for a long time. They feel so real and they are written so exquisitely. Furthermore, Robin as an unreliable narrator just adds to the appeal of reading it for me. An unreliable narrator is one of my favourite things about a book, and this was executed so well.
Babel is just a complete masterpiece. I write a lot of reviews with the mindset of 'how could what I write do this book any justice'. But I mean that from the bottom of my heart writing this review. This book is essential and so cleverly crafted. One of my favourite books of all time.
This book is an absolute marvel. It is completely astonishing. The characters are so human, fully dimensional and uniquely complex. The story: devastating. But, anything that is about empire and colonialism is. Kuang has such incredible skill at interweaving themes of empire, colonialism, racism, religion, gender and so many more themes. Sometimes, I came across sentences that put the themes and topics so well that I physically could not think of a way to rephrase things. Her style is just so clever and intricate and nuanced. Simply brilliant.
This book is also incredibly emotional. There are characters in this book that felt like friends of mine and I haven't felt this close to characters in a book for a long time. They feel so real and they are written so exquisitely. Furthermore, Robin as an unreliable narrator just adds to the appeal of reading it for me. An unreliable narrator is one of my favourite things about a book, and this was executed so well.
Babel is just a complete masterpiece. I write a lot of reviews with the mindset of 'how could what I write do this book any justice'. But I mean that from the bottom of my heart writing this review. This book is essential and so cleverly crafted. One of my favourite books of all time.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Violence, Colonisation
Moderate: Child abuse, Drug use, Slavery, Death of parent, Murder, War
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A fantastic sprawling epic that uses ideas of collonialism, translation, exploitation and the diversity of thought and language, as the scaffolding for a compelling story about what we do and don't accept. I loved this. I'll be thinking about it for years to come.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Violence
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Sexism
adventurous
challenging
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism
adventurous
reflective
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Slightly magical, alternate history of the British Empire in the 1830s amid the beginnings of the Opium Wars, and more of a commentary on racism and colonialism than fantasy.
For me, a book is 4 stars if the story holds my attention across the 500+ pages, and the characters are interesting. So, it scores on those points. Background-wise, you'll be ok with this if you have any interest in etymology and translation, but if not you'll struggle.
The anti-racist message is not subtly expressed - it is very consistently and brutally expressed. It's really laid on heavy by the colonialists quite how little they thought of people from the places they were exploiting, and there's no possibility of responding to their arguments. The characters who are at the receiving end of it sometimes discuss racism and sexism together, in language that is not authentic to the time. One of the central messages of the book is that white women are not allies, that they'll push to get access to the system but not fight the system itself - fine, this makes sense and is likely quite authentic. But as it's such a heavily pursued narrative, there's not as much complexity or surprise as there could be. We basically learn that even in a world where there's a bit of magic to make things run smoother, it is all just used to make the Empire richer, and the Empire will allow any number of atrocities if the Empire itself still stands and makes money and power. (E.g. it is discussed a few times that abolition was just a trade advantage). So, it's bleak, and maybe a tiny bit clunky, but for any readers who maintain a perspective that Britain brought good to the world through empire, they might think differently after reading (they might not though).
For me, a book is 4 stars if the story holds my attention across the 500+ pages, and the characters are interesting. So, it scores on those points. Background-wise, you'll be ok with this if you have any interest in etymology and translation, but if not you'll struggle.
The anti-racist message is not subtly expressed - it is very consistently and brutally expressed. It's really laid on heavy by the colonialists quite how little they thought of people from the places they were exploiting, and there's no possibility of responding to their arguments. The characters who are at the receiving end of it sometimes discuss racism and sexism together, in language that is not authentic to the time. One of the central messages of the book is that white women are not allies, that they'll push to get access to the system but not fight the system itself - fine, this makes sense and is likely quite authentic. But as it's such a heavily pursued narrative, there's not as much complexity or surprise as there could be. We basically learn that even in a world where there's a bit of magic to make things run smoother, it is all just used to make the Empire richer, and the Empire will allow any number of atrocities if the Empire itself still stands and makes money and power. (E.g. it is discussed a few times that abolition was just a trade advantage). So, it's bleak, and maybe a tiny bit clunky, but for any readers who maintain a perspective that Britain brought good to the world through empire, they might think differently after reading (they might not though).
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism
Minor: Child abuse, Child death, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, War
adventurous
challenging
informative
mysterious
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
An excellent and thought provoking read. I loved the characters, and Robin’s journey was so interesting to watch. It also has such a unique magic system that I adored, I just feel it got a little bogged down in semantics sometimes - but they are language scholars after all! A hard read at times, but a necessary one.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Death of parent, War